230 comments:

The Black Leaders are nervous. They expected some help from Obama and all they got was 6 years of 40% unemployment and a Washington lead Revolution to flood the USA with cheap Central American and Mexican labor that is direct competition for all the new jobs.

I'm sorry, what sort of idiot starts talking trash about an "uprising" when the group is 12% of the population? What does he want -- for there to be so many dead black people that they get used as fertilizer?

This country is full of mean, ornery, white people with guns. And, unlike the urban blacks who can't seem to hit the broad side of building, the rural & suburban honkies practice shooting.

Lee is just Brooklyn bluster, and would get his tiny ass stomped by Bubba in a NY minute. Don't talk this way, as if revolution is a parlor game. It's evil. Remember what happened last time there was a redneck vs darkie shootout.

3 of the 78 people arrested are from Ferguson. The majority of blacks in the majority black city are at home, shocked at the situation, embarrassed by the spectacle on the streets, saddened by the death of a young man. It did not have to happen. None of it had to happen.

Spike Lee is a lightweight thinker and a one shot wonder filmmaker. Someone should beat the shit out of him to bring him in touch with the way violence feels. The violence he thinks he advocates.

Yes, the NRA made noise over Ruby Ridge and Waco. In both Ruby Ridge and Waco, the underlying issue that was used as the reason for going all paramilitary-assault were alleged non-violent violations of gun control laws. Of course the NRA makes noise about cases where gun control laws are used as reasons for the government to kill people. Show me where Brown was shot for violating gun control laws, I'll show you where the NRA is involved.

Word gets out that Nixon's Missouri is itchy on "vigorous prosecution" in advance of any grand jury finding and a number of conventions booked in Branson right now move to Nashville instead, convincing the acts they want to see to follow them to corresponding venues there (Nashville can absorb that culture).

People who matter in Missouri, i.e., not Nixon, decide Nixon's bid to sleep with Hillary in the White House is too economically pricey for the big MO and he lame ducks out looking like Pontius Pilate. Claire McCaskill's seat also becomes endangered from defecting borderline moderates who if nothing else understand how both due process and political pandering work.

On top of the Rick Perry thing, Democrat bullying lawfare from Holder will definitely carry an odor, while the constituents he's pandering to only produce that rewarding 6% voting rate.

There's no law that people who abandon and spurn you have to tell you why or even that they're doing so. You just wake up one day and somehow your political life has turned to shit overnight.

The Ferguson manipulators have already overreached way too far in the face of evidence which can easily exculpate Wilson, and Nixon, Holder, and Obama are punching that tarbaby as hard as they can.

“If you have a badge, you have the government’s go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens,” said Wayne Lapierre, then the NRA’s executive vice-president, calling the agents “jack-booted thugs.”

Doesn't Spike Lee also support "intifada" (which translates as "uprising")? Didn't Spike Lee tweet the wrong George Zimmerman address out of anger? How much vehement garbage do sane people have to tolerate from such bigots?

Most blacks are too smart to have an "uprising" against the other 88% of the population that still is pretty well armed and controls the police and military. Which is just as well for Shelton Lee, because if there ever were an "uprising" the first to get squashed would be effete millionaire filmmakers. He'd find himself in the uncomfortable position of having to ask the cops he hates so much to save his puny ass.

"If there is a race war it will not be black vs white. It will be black vs Hispanic and the Hispanics will kick the blacks asses."

So true. Spike Lee is living in the 60's. The Hispanics who took all the blacks' jobs are living in the 21st Century, waging a 21st Century soft demographic war, and winning on every front. They'll be hiring the Ferguson folks for the ethnic interest they bring to cocktail and dinner parties.

Amazing, in light of the news reports about the cop's facial fracture, the autopsy results and the video of Brown's strong-arming the store clerk while stealing. This case, like the Trayvon Martin case, has the potential to backfire badly on all those mau-mauing the cop, to say nothing of the way it will divide and hardened racial attitudes on both sides. Just those three facts would make it extremely difficult to convict a cop if any prosecutor ever decides to bring an indictment.

It wasn't Missouri, but I heard a political analyst in another state claim that the Democratic Party only needs 30% of the white vote to win an election in that state. I don't know what the demographics are in MO, but they might be similar. Nixon doesn't look like the kind of guy who takes a bold stand or ever acts against his own self interest. About 30% of white people think the officer might be guilty so maybe Nixon knows what he's doing.

I just read that New Yorker profile on Nina Simone. She apparently had an unhappy life. I'm sure she suffered a few racial insults along the way, but I think most of her misery was secondary to mental illness and to a husband who beat her. The dynamics of race are such that she blamed white racism for all her difficulties and was praised for her anger....... On a much larger scale that's what's happening in Ferguson. I've seen pictures of the housing there. It looks well maintained with lots of green lawns. In most of the world, Ferguson would be considered luxury housing. I've heard pundits describe it as a ghetto. WTF. They say that black kids are subject to constant harassment by the police. Again,WTF. Brown and his friend were walking in the middle of the street. Look at the sidewalks on either side of the street. Plenty of room. No heed to walk I the middle of the street except to express ownership of the terrain. Beyond that, they had just participated in a minor robbery. Police exist expressly to harass people like Brown and his friend.

Spike wants Mookie to throw the garbage can through Sal,s pizzeria window because a cop killed Radio Raheem. He wants the riot, and he wants to punish the white interlopers. Watch do e right thing again to see what a racist cunt spike Lee is.

If Mookie, the main character of Do The Right Thing were around during the Crown Heights Riots he'd be one of the blacks who stabbed Yankel Rosenbaum. He would also be the guy who hit Reginald Denny in the head with a brick. And somehow suggest in both cases it was justified.

Did any of you here actually watch that video clip? I don't agree with all that Spike Lee had to say, but a lot of what he said seemed spot on.

I very much like his suggestion that retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré, who coordinated military relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, should be the point person on Ferguson right now.

Lydia wrote:I very much like his suggestion that retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré, who coordinated military relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, should be the point person on Ferguson right now.

a lot of people in NO were complaining about the military walking around with assault rifles during Katrina. You want the military to control a riot?

"We search for a man named Jim Sonnett and the legends folks tell may be true. Most call him gunman and killer; he's my son, who I hardly knew. I raised Jim's boy from the cradle; till the day he said to me, "I have to go find my father". And I reckon that's how it should be. So we ride, Jim's boy and me."

With such beauty about, I can assure no freckle uprising tonight. God bless you this good night.

Crack wrote:Letting everyone know you're the Klansmen of our dreams is the easiest way to defeat you,...

you're too busy shooting each other in drive bys and burning down your neighborhoods and aborting your kids and not graduating from high school to defeat anyone. But keep telling yourself its whites killing blacks when 90% of the time your community does it to itself.

i'm sure you were. Riots have the ear marks of cracks brand of emotional inanity. No rhyme or reason. Just anger at some supposed grievance. And for that the neighborhood should suffer. As I say, please go down there and show them where its at.The revolution will be televised.

Something makes you the least bit uncomfortable - you want to kill it.

You're murderers."

And yet, crack prefers to live among white people, not his black brothers in Africa. Apparently, it's safer and more prosperous with the white devils, cause the black Angels are constantly in a bad mood.

Crack, do you see that? 52.5% of murders committed by 12% of the population-- blacks. Blacks are eight times more likely to commit murder than whites. Even so, blacks are only six times more likely to be murdered. That leads to two conclusions: 1) Blacks kill far more blacks than whites do. and 2)Blacks kill more whites than whites kill blacks. And you have the blinkered pig-ignorance to call whites murderers? And what's worse, to call whites delusional? You are entirely divorced from reality. A blind hatred and a desire to blame others for your personal failures are what's to blame.

Crack is part right about the Scots Irish American culture being ready to fight to the opponent's death when attacked. Good leadership takes that into account. That fighting instinct can be abused. So it's leaders need to be righteous, because the instinct that can defeat other groups in war can also be lead into select the wrong enemy to fight.

From what we have seen so far Officer Wilson seems 100% Scots Irish. The good news is that African Americans who behave are all accepted into that culture easily, because it is not skin color that counts. We are all cousins.

My link is just a pointer of thought, to be clear. Should you want to buy the soundtrack, for whatever reason, go through the Amazon portal. Respect is a precious thing, and to throw it aside due to a lack of willingness to make just a little extra effort absolutely is a demonstration of a lack of character, not to mention integrity.

the ALTHOUSE Amazon portal, of course; man, I do need to brush up on my commenting skills in specificity, not just in the obvious way, but also as well in many other ways: keep in mind, keep in mind, pay attention, pay attention--and also, figure out how to step lightly with both feet AND slam down a foot as if it were a sledgehammer.

The funny thing is we still don't know what happened. Did the officer shoot Brown when Brown was trying to surrender? If so, why? Did Brown attack the officer and injure him? If so, were they still fighting when the officer shot him? Or was Brown trying to run away? What did the officer say happened immediately after the shooting? Is that the same story he is telling today? Did he go to the hospital afterwards? If so, where is that medical report? I could go on, but the facts of the matter - and whether or not the shooting was lawful or not - are still not known.

But what we do know is that with each passing day, the policeman's injuries get retroactively worse. First he was reported as having swelling from being punched, then he had a cracked eye socket, then he'd been severely beaten.

At the rate things are going, by this time next week it'll turn out Brown actually killed him and was shot by somebody totally different.

Will there be outrage over the shooting deat of a 9year old Antonio Smith in Chicago yesterday?

No because the kid -- Black and a true innocent-- a true innocent--was in all likelihood shot by a Black gangbanger and that sadly is not news and not something Blacks will protestor riot about because whitey/racism.

stlcdr - After the uprising? Well, if that were to happen, I suspect that Ferguson would repeat the experience of Newark, which never recovered from its riots. Does Spike Lee care about that? Well, he's a very rich man, living in a very luxurious apartment, protected by doormen and other security, so my guess is that he doesn't give a shit.

""Most blacks are too smart to have an "uprising" against the other 88% of the population that still is pretty well armed and controls the police and military."

Hilarious - you're not 88% - starting with the fact all white people don't agree with you.

What an idiot,.."

First, please--save the name calling for DailyKos or whichever childish fever swamp you otherwise post in. This is a family blog!

Second, you don't know my race so please refrain from using "you" when describing white people. Your little fantasy of fighting against "the man" is amusing at most.

Third, you're assuming total solidarity among black people in trying to wipe out all whites, but that once an attempted genocide against whites takes place, the whites would remain divided on whether to resist this genocide?

You also seem to think Hispanics, Asians, Arabs and every other race in this country would be on one side in your little uprising. As well as the idea that blacks--most of whom don't actually hate white people, despite whatever is happening in your head--would risk their own lives and property to slaughter their white neighbors, co-workers, friends, and in some cases family?

I guess you're entitled to your fantasy. It's still a bit sad that something happened to you to make you this way.

Douglas, you are old fashioned--don't you know that some very strident, emotional people have already decided that despite not being present they can tell that white cops always kill unarmed black people without reason? Or that any unarmed black kid shot by a cop was obviously attacking the cop and had it coming?

It is really something how people can go into this situation--where there is genuine uncertainty as to how this incident went from a police stop to a dead suspect--and be so certain that the facts magically conform to their own existing prejudices. Maybe it's the fact that I recognize that some cops can be abusive and reckless and some members of the public can be stupid and violent and put cops in reasonable fear for their lives that makes me think that the only thing we should want here is a full investigation (as we always should when a police stop results in a corpse).

Short of that, though, pronouncing Wilson a murderer or exonerating him completely seems premature. Let the appropriate fact finders look into this, if there's grounds for charging the cop then by all means let the prosecution move forward with all due process. If there's not, then under our laws he's innocent until proven guilty, and the police can consider whether there's need to change police procedures to prevent the likelihood of shootings in the future, and perhaps film more stops so there's better evidence if something like this happens again. That's what rational people would ask for.

Calls for "uprisings" (which are always hilariously suggested by those who live in their own safe, protected communities and count on the police to keep from getting Mansoned) and rioting and looting are pretty much what we can expect from the lowest degenerates in our society.

Revenant wrote:But what we do know is that with each passing day, the policeman's injuries get retroactively worse. First he was reported as having swelling from being punched, then he had a cracked eye socket, then he'd been severely beaten.

if there is no orbital fracture it will come out won't it? just as if there is no APB about the robbery, it will come out. And then we'll know the cops were lying. But, why would they be so precise if they didn't have evidence to back it up.

The same thing happened in the Trayvon Martin case. First it was assumed GZ had no injuries even though police on the scene recorded injuries. Then it turns out he had a broken nose. We didn't get that info for weeks.

"The Black Leaders are nervous. They expected some help from Obama and all they got was 6 years of 40% unemployment and a Washington lead Revolution to flood the USA with cheap Central American and Mexican labor that is direct competition for all the new jobs."

I don't know where this alleged "flood" of cheap Central American and Mexican labor is...outside the fever dreams of those who believe "illegal immigrants" is a real problem for America. But let's assume--strictly for rhetorical purposes--that we are awash in this "flood" of cheap foreign laborers...you say they are "direct competition for all the new jobs". Well, at what jobs will one likely find laborers who come from Mexico or Central America? Migrant farm workers, nannies, gardeners, day laborers, ditch diggers, dishwashers, fry cooks, and other low-skill, low-wage jobs of similar type? (Certainly not in high-wage career-track jobs that require higher education.)

If such jobs constitute "all the new jobs," (which, frankly, seems very likely), then the problem we have is not "illegal immigrants stealing our jobs" but a bankruptcy of good jobs!

And who is to blame for that? The "job creators" (sic), who, to fatten their bottom lines with the minimum of effort and risk, erase jobs through automation or reorganization of responsibilities, or who send jobs overseas to be performed by workers who work for a fraction of the pay, and low or no benefits.

In other words, the problem is the greed of already highly profitable companies slashing their payroll expenses in order to make their stock prices go higher.

Now, many may approve of this and see this as entirely proper for profit-seeking companies to do whatever it takes and "by any means necessary" to seek ever-increasing profits. But those same people cannot then complain about the dearth (and death) of good jobs in America as being the fault of illegal immigrants stealing those jobs.

The manufactured panic over illegal immigrants is just good old-fashioned, (not so) covertly expressed bigotry.

"Why isn't the NRA helping arm the citizens of Ferguson against the "jack-booted thugs" of the government?"The Govt can resort to tyranny and so you may need a gun to protect yourself. But there is also fear of the mob. Those shop owners with AR15s standing in front of their stores are not protecting themselves from the police.Libertarians think now is the time to talk about demilitarizing the cops, even though its a side issue at bet. But shop owners want their stores protected by cops. And when that fails THEN they have to get out their rifles and do it themselves.Gun control won't save them from the mob you see. Cops job in this case is to quell the riots. They should be more heavy handed not less. Note, I said riot. Not demonstration.if the demonstrators can hold their looters in check, there is no reason for cops to bring out the tear gas. Only, they can't.

I'd like to see an uprising in collective intelligence, in terms of being able to see the difference between a truly innocent victim and a jayvee/varsity thug/criminal who brings his fatal fate upon himself. It sure looks like the late Mr. Brown falls into the latter category, if the surveillance footage and reporting on the assaulted cop's injuries are accurate.

I would think the NRA would be paying more attention to cases like Shaneen Allen than to what's going on in Ferguson.

Then again, considering we know the facts of the Shaneen Allen case and we know how unjust it is, I'm surprised more people aren't out protesting for Shaneen instead of a case where the facts are still not yet known like the Brown case. Here's a textbook case that should have both the left and right up in arms, yet the only people that seem to care are conservatives and libertarians.

What Cookie said. But he must not get out much if he has not seen the flood of immigrant labor. It is good labor, that happens to speak Spanish. They still maintain respect for authority including leadership by women as the central part of their family structure.

Robert Cooke wrote:It does no such thing; it simply shows dramatically how such a thing could come to happen.

it assumes that Buggin Out and Radio Raheem have a point when the first accost the white guy who moved in then when they demand that Sal have pictures they want in his store. They don't. They are the ones that instigate the entire riot.You know this is what Spike was getting at because he makes the same point about interlopers coming into his own neighborhood and then telling people living there to keep the noise down or what have you. He feels its his neighborhood. Sal is in fact an interloper.Imagine if this were a predominantly white neighborhood, and the store owner was Korean. And the white bullies came in and demanded he put pictures of John Wayne or John Gotti on the wall. We would rightfully side with the store owner over the neighborhood bullies.

As on any given Monday I brought out the afternoon wine and fondue to my slaves and we played poker and talked about the Nature of Man.

"James, I had that dream again last night."

"The one where you are a black slave owner and you were whipping and beating your slaves something fierce?"

"That's the one James."

"That could be very harrowing."

"Well, this time I'm a-whippin' and a-whippin' but then the slaves turn out to be white, so I start whippin' harder and harder and harder and they're criyng out "Stop, Massah, stop!" but I just keep on whippin' them some more."

"And how did that make you feel, Rutherford?"

"When I woke up I felt all kinds of awful."

"That's a very understandable reaction, Rutherford."

"James?"

"Yes, Rutherford?"

"Why can't all the slave owners be good like you?"

"Well, Rutherford, God makes the strong man and the weak man, too."

"He sure works in funny ways, though."

"That he does, Rutherford: that he does. Now how 'bout we get back to work?"

And who is to blame for that? The "job creators" (sic), who, to fatten their bottom lines with the minimum of effort and risk, erase jobs through automation or reorganization of responsibilities, or who send jobs overseas to be performed by workers who work for a fraction of the pay, and low or no benefits.

Not government, who makes every employee cost far more than their actual salary and whose regulations tend to cause more problems than they solve?

And, back to OP, Spike Lee is an incredibly racist director. Heck, I remember in "He Got Game" where a character said black girls will make you "work for it" while white girls can't wait to "give it up" to black athletes.

I decided to stop watching his movies, forever, from that moment forward. That they were also pretty bad made it easy. Only Lee could make a movie about Malcolm X horrendously boring.

I'd rather have a national history class and then challenge white people to tell us what they're really responsible for.

You're not a slave in Africa today. That's what whites are responsible for. If we "left you back home", your ass would be enslaved today.

I don't expect money, but you can kindly shut the fuck up about it from now on.

St. Louis cops killed another black guy - over two sodas.

Black thugs kill black innocent children in Chicago EVERY WEEK.

But that's OK to Cracker here.

He doesn't hold blacks to any standards, either.

Blacks are admired the world over.

Blacks treat other blacks like cattle. Who the hell "admires" them world over?

As to why no one is rioting in Chicago: It wouldn't fix the problem. Believe it or not, a lot of the rioters really think if they burn enough, throw enough rocks at journalists, threaten enough people, that maybe -- just maybe -- they'll get what they want.

You can't threaten and burn gang members into NOT shooting people. They'll just shoot you instead. A riot in Chicago to "stop the violence" won't help.

"Matthew Sablan said...Believe it or not, a lot of the rioters really think if they burn enough, throw enough rocks at journalists, threaten enough people, that maybe -- just maybe -- they'll get what they want."

I'm assuming they are rational people acting in a rational manner and believe that the government will give them what they want if they riot enough. I could be wrong, but I'm operating under a fairly safe assumption. They may believe incorrectly; we may not agree with their reasoning -- but I firmly believe these rioters think that rioting is going to help them achieve their ends.

Two protesters were shot by other protesters, that, at least is undeniable. So, do you really want to equate a situation where people were having open discussions and no one was shot with crowds of protesters wearing masks, torching buildings and shooting people?

Because, uh, we can compare them and ask whether the response should be the same -- but most sane people are going to say, "No. No the police should not respond the same to armed people not doing anything but protesting and armed people burning property and shooting people."

I do not think Spike Lee knows what the term "uprising" can actually mean in terms of human suffering, destruction, and chaos. I put such a thing in the same category as ruined Mogadishu, devastated Chad, Mali, Libya, and the hell brought by ISIS in Iraq. Mr. Lee apparently thinks of a few weeks of civil disobedience and scattered deaths, covered sympathetically by the national media, and followed by vast spending on black schools and social programs. Real uprisings bring shot down airliners and mass graves.

His vision of uprising could be neatly covered in a 90 minute movie. The reality would be piles of dead bodies, flattened cities, and unending misery. He has not considered what it takes to create and maintain civilization or how easily it can all be ruined.

"But let's assume--strictly for rhetorical purposes--that we are awash in this "flood" of cheap foreign laborers...you say they are "direct competition for all the new jobs". Well, at what jobs will one likely find laborers who come from Mexico or Central America? Migrant farm workers, nannies, gardeners, day laborers, ditch diggers, dishwashers, fry cooks, and other low-skill, low-wage jobs of similar type? (Certainly not in high-wage career-track jobs that require higher education.)"

We already HAVE the data. ALL the job growth for the last 14 years has gone to legal and illegal immigrants according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

"What I don't get at all is the cops all decked out in camo. Who in the hell are they hiding from?"

It's part of the military mystique that goes along with armored vehicles and automatic weapons. Camouflage, with subdued patches and rank insignia is useful when faced with a well-armed enemy who is will selectively pick off leaders.

In policing, however, visibility is important. The police are the visible symbols of society and civilization. Hiding that fact simply makes them the most well-armed gang in the street.

BTW - I love the effort all of you "white cops" put into trying to keep a single black man down. It doesn't matter how, either:

Shoot down my arguments, make it personal about what little bits you think you know about my life, trying to depress me, undermine my confidence, squash my dreams, call me a loser - it never stops.

And this from the folks who started the year admitting THEY have a PROBLEM and MUST do something to attract black and hispanic voters.

Now that the hispanics have abandoned the Republicans and gone to the Democrats, too, of course, the conservatives claim hispanics now hate blacks and will destroy us.

And (this is the best part) they expect blacks to believe them, when we didn't believe them before, when they were claiming we were all going to be BFFs under the Republican umbrella - without whites doing anything but holding the door open.

That's an example of that famous "principled" thinking they've been claiming to possess.

"Crack, do you see that? 52.5% of murders committed by 12% of the population-- blacks. Blacks are eight times more likely to commit murder than whites."

Whites have been raping and murdering blacks for centuries - exposing us to the practice and even making us do it to each other - and you think it's some surprise we're acclimated to it?

How silly a person are you?

Are you going to claim that - because whites have always had the power to distance themselves from white supremacy's dictates and results - the fact whites haven't sullied their hands means they have nothing to do with the bloody results of their work?

Who else made the policies that created the desperation in America's ghettos?

Who else made the policies that created America's ghettos?

Who else made the policies that created American black's anger?

Who else practiced white flight?

Who else made the policies that allowed whites to rip-off America's blacks?

Who else took the G.I. Bill and all the rest but didn't care that America's blacks got nothing and now says we have to do for ourselves?

Who else created the guns used to kill America's Native peoples and everybody else - for white's benefit alone?

"But what we do know is that with each passing day, the policeman's injuries get retroactively worse. First he was reported as having swelling from being punched, then he had a cracked eye socket, then he'd been severely beaten."

But we also have film of him, right after the shooting, walking around casually - not injured in the least.

"I'd like to see an uprising in collective intelligence, in terms of being able to see the difference between a truly innocent victim and a jayvee/varsity thug/criminal who brings his fatal fate upon himself."

Wait on the facts. If he gunned down a man in cold blood or because he was angry, I favor capitol punishment. If he killed a man in self defense because he through he was about to be attacked by a man who had just beat him and tried to take his weapon, leave him alone.

Police are not supposed to release information about an ongoing investigation, it's unfair to weight unverified information from bystanders as true just because they get to speak freely. Medical information about the officer is relevant to the shooting for a number of reasons, and I would guess it was held back as relevant to an ongoing investigation. It took a FOIA request to get the video of Brown robbing a store and roughing up the clerk; it was released because it didn't have anything to do with the shooting, although the police stalled until the family could be made aware of it prior to release -- and the family's response was to claim the release was indented to defame Brown.

I knew it was useless to point out reality to you, Crack, so instead of fighting you, I'll just reason the same way you do.

Blacks are dominating popular culture and gangsta images appeal to whites. Gangstas commit eight times the murders that whites do, and since whites think gangstas are cool, whites think murder is cool. Therefore, when whites commit murder, the fault is blacks'.

if there is no orbital fracture it will come out won't it? just as if there is no APB about the robbery, it will come out.

Nope.

The policeman's medical records are private and can only be released if he allows it. Police APBs will require a FOIA request unless the police feel like releasing them, and even then the police can stonewall until long after the public loses interest in the case.

Here's what we CAN say, with a high degree of certainty: if there was an APB out that helped the police department's narrative, they would have released it already, just like they hastened to release the robbery video.

I would guess most people, regardless of race, dislike and don't trust cops. For example: how many people like speed traps? How about being pulled over for an expired registration? Isn't it common to flash your lights to tell other drivers cops are near? In fact, most people know a story about a lying traffic cop.

What makes police officers liars when it comes to traffic stops, but completely trustworthy on matters of life and death? I can think of one theory, but it isn't pretty.

EMD: On Do The Right Thing, I thought your interpretation was right [it is what I thought too]. Apparently, though, that's not the director's intent: Spike Lee says: "Mookie did not throw the garbage can through the window to divert the mob from jumping on Sal". Mookie, the delivery guy who works for Sal and is played by Lee, "threw the garbage can through the window because he just saw one of his best friends get murdered in cold blood by NYPD." [I found the quote in a few places, here's one.]

My impression, after watching "Do the Right Thing", was that if the Klan had made a film with the specific intent of making black people look bad, the film they made wouldn't have been terribly different.

Revenant said...My impression, after watching "Do the Right Thing", was that if the Klan had made a film with the specific intent of making black people look bad, the film they made wouldn't have been terribly different

In the same way, if the Klan had wanted to create a black poster whose racialist rantings posited that real moral/ethical/intellectual differences were based solely on race and thus provided aid and comfort to white supremacist teachings, they would have invented the Crack Emcee.

I don't know; I view it more as a tragedy. Everyone is flawed and refuses to make good choices for a variety of reasons.

That's how it was described to me, before I saw it. But I don't think that interpretation holds up under any kind of scrutiny.

The problem is that the Sal character isn't really flawed. He spends the movie making a legitimate attempt to try to get along with the residents of the neighborhood, even though most of the ones we see -- e.g., Mookie, Raheem, and Buggin -- are basically a bunch of shiftless assholes. Then he loses his temper once, and in return loses his business. Meanwhile, the guy who led the mob actually gets paid.

If you had told me Lee made the movie with the specific intent of saying "non-blacks should stay out of black neighborhoods", I'd find that more plausible. And, actually, these days Lee is quite open about thinking that... so maybe that was the message in the first place.

There is power in being ready to riot. OJ Simpson got tried downtown after Black clergy threatened a Black riot if he wasn't. And really ditto for the prosecution of George Zimmerman. Apparently done to prevent a Black riot.

I think that most of us have had to deal with people who use threatened violence to their advantage. I am reminded of one VP I used to work with. Maybe 300 lbs with everyone around him terrorized that he would lose his temper. Heck, I can remember my reactions as a teenager with my father getting ready to blow up at me. I think that a lot of us just go along and give someone credibly threatening violence what they want.

Still, it is silly - these Black riots inevitably hurt the Black community worse than anyone else. Maybe they will burn out some Asian businesses, but then complain that they have to take the bus or a taxi further to shop for food, etc. Duh? The only rational way to do business in a location where TVs etc are likely to be stolen on national TV is to overcharge their customers.

My view is that a lot of the Black community is getting what they asked for, by joining the slavery party, the party of the KKK and Jim Crow, and more recently, the party that destroyed Black family structure through its War on Poverty. So, yes, pulling the D lever at such high rates is very likely a good part of the reason that the Black murderer and murder rates are so high these days, and probably part of why Brown (and Martin) are now dead.

My view is that a lot of the Black community is getting what they asked for, by joining the slavery party, the party of the KKK and Jim Crow, and more recently, the party that destroyed Black family structure through its War on Poverty

Be on the lookout for a white populace that created hostility for anyone who showed up leaving slavery, made problems for them, bombed their houses and burned crosses on their lawns, left them in desperation, and now casually talks about the result as the fault of those who had no power to determine any of it."

"My impression, after watching "Do the Right Thing", was that if the Klan had made a film with the specific intent of making black people look bad, the film they made wouldn't have been terribly different."

"Do The Right Thing" makes whites - exclusively - look bad?

Please, then explain "Smiley," the white dude everybody loves - who (finally) DOES THE RIGHT THING that should've been done from the beginning:

Hangs the photo of Malcolm and Martin together on the wall of Sal's Pizzaria.

Brando said:Short of that, though, pronouncing Wilson a murderer or exonerating him completely seems premature. Let the appropriate fact finders look into this, if there's grounds for charging the cop then by all means let the prosecution move forward with all due process. If there's not, then under our laws he's innocent until proven guilty, and the police can consider whether there's need to change police procedures to prevent the likelihood of shootings in the future, and perhaps film more stops so there's better evidence if something like this happens again. That's what rational people would ask for.

No, he and his boys dump casual racism on the people who support them, until they end up killing a guy over a radio and a photo.

Another fine example of a great white guy any black would love.

"He spends the movie making a legitimate attempt to try to get along with the residents of the neighborhood, even though most of the ones we see -- e.g., Mookie, Raheem, and Buggin -- are basically a bunch of shiftless assholes."

"Assholes." Unlike his son, the racist, who he brings to work every day.

"Then he loses his temper once, and in return loses his business."

Euphemisms - whites love euphemisms. The guy took a baseball bat (that he regularly uses to threaten people) and attacked the only possession of a beloved neighborhood figure, resulting in his death.

"Pronouncing Wilson a murderer or exonerating him completely seems premature."

No, he's a murderer. He killed an unarmed man. he could've called for back-up - he could've done a lot of things - but he killed an unarmed man.

"Let the appropriate fact finders look into this, if there's grounds for charging the cop then by all means let the prosecution move forward with all due process."

You guys don't get it - this isn't going to be about "the facts" of the case (That "Game Changer" anyone?) but "the facts" of Ferguson. An all-white police dept., cops screaming blacks are animals, innocent men sued for bleeding on cops' uniforms.

If Michael Brown had ANY reason to respect whatever that cop said to him, you're going to have to produce it.

Otherwise - whites lose.

"If there's not, then under our laws he's innocent until proven guilty, and the police can consider whether there's need to change police procedures to prevent the likelihood of shootings in the future, and perhaps film more stops so there's better evidence if something like this happens again. That's what rational people would ask for."

America's not rational. If it was, we wouldn't have the race problem we do - and have had for 400 years.